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Xylocopa aruana
Large black and yellow bee to 25mm long. I noticed the bee flying around and then stopped on the trunk of a tree. It appeared to be burrowing in. As I moved closer I could hear the tearing of fibers. When startled it flew off, leaving a cavity. I looked along the trunk and saw a few other cavities, dried out and the ones towards the top of the tree, the trunk was hollowed out.
Open woodland/grassland at James Cook University Cairns Campus.
They are solitary bees. The females make the tunnels and lay their eggs in decaying wood.
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